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Penske Racing
Penske Racing owned by Roger Penske has fielded cars in the IndyCar Series since 1968. Roger Penske is also the owner of Penske Corporation. Penske has 15 Indy 500 victories, 12 championships, and over 150 races won. 'Penske Early Years' Penske fielded a Stock Block Powered Eagle with Mark Donohue in 1968 Penskes first Indycar race. By 1972 the they were the team to beat when they won the 1972 Indy 500 with Mark Donohue. Mario Andretti, Tom Sneva, Gordon Johncock, Gary Bettenhausen, David Hobbs, Bobby Allison, Bobby Unser, and Rick Mears all drove for the team in the 70's with Mark Donohue winning the Indy 500 in 72' and Rick Mears winning the Indy 500 in 1979. The 1980's saw 5 Indy 500 victories for Penske; Bobby Unser 1981, Rick Mears 1984, 88, Danny Sullivan 1985, and Al Unser Sr in 1987. '1994-1995 Indy 500 Stories' In 1994 Penske ran over all the compeition with the new Penske PC-23 Chasis and debuted a radical Mercedes Benz engine. This engine used a provision in the rules intended for stock block pushrod engines like a V-6 Buick engines that allowed an extra 650 cm and 10 inches of boost. They had an estimated over 1000 HP engine. Drivers Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi dominated the race and Unser Jr won. The following year the team was humilated when they returned to the track only to fail to qualify all there cars. At one point Unser took to the track to try and bump Emerson from the field. This would unfortunately be the last time Emerson Fittipaldi would try to race at Indy. 'Penske as we know it today' In 2001 Penske returned to Indy this time his driver Helio Castroneves would win the 500. It was Castroneves first race at Inianapolis. The team ran the full IRL season in 2002 and Castroneves won the Indy 500 for the second year in a row. The following season was Gil de Ferran's last full season after capturing the 2000 and 2001 CART championships. De Ferran who was injured after an accident in phoenix early in the year won the 2003 Indy 500 beating his teammate Castronevas who finished 2nd in the race. Gil de Ferran went on to later win in his final ever race at Texas Motor Speedway he finished 2nd in the standings. Sam Hornish replaced Gil de Ferran in 2004 and won his first race with the team, which just so happend to be his only win in 2004. In 2006 won his long awaited Indy 500. Sam finished the 2006 season tied with Dan Wheldon but Sam won the championship based on winning more races in the season. In 2008 Ryan Briscoe replaced Sam Hornish who left for Nascar. Since replacing Hornish in 2008 Briscoe has 6 wins for Penske. In 2009 Helio Castronevas was in legal trouble so Will Power had to start the season replacing him. As part of the deal Penske gave him a car at Indy where he finished 5th and he was then signed on to drive a few more races including Edmonton where he won and Sonoma where he was involved in a terrible crash that left his Vertebrae broken. He returned to Penske full time the following year where he won 5 races before giving up the points lead in the final race of the year to Dario Franchitti. 2011 Will suffered the same fate as he and Franchitti had a heated battle all season that ended with him giving up the points lead to Franchitti at Kentucky. Going into Las Vegas Will Power still had a chance at the championship but he was caught up a horrible 15 car accident that claimed the life of Dan Wheldon and sent Powers car through the air straight for the fence just like Wheldon's but Will survived although he suffered another broken Vertebrae. The race was never counted because Randy Bernard announced the race would be abandoned following the accident.